Vacuum cleaner filter bag

ABSTRACT

A VACUUM CLEANER FILTER BAG WHICH CAN BE MANUFACTURED ON MACHINERY DESIGNED FOR CONVENTIONAL VACUUM CLEANER FILTER BAGS, AND YET HAVING AN INCREASED CAPACITY FOR DIRT AND DUST, BY THE PROVISION OF OFF-CENTER ACCESS MEANS ASSOCIATED THEREWITH.

Nov. 2, 1,971 J. J. Fl-:sco 3,616,621

VACUUM CLEANER FILTER BAG Filed April 14. 1969 2 sheets-Sheet 1 INVENTOR.

JOHN J. FES O ulk C \62 \0 Attorneys Nov. 2, 1971 J, 4, FE""SfQ 3,616,621

vAcuuu guzman FILTER BAG Filed April 14,6;,1969 2 sheets-sheetv s vmvxsN-rolz.

JOHN J. FESCO Attorneys United States Patent O 3,616,621 VACUUM CLEANER FILTER BAG John J. Fesco, 1100 Steele Blvd., Baldwin, N.Y. 11510 Filed Apr. 14, 1969, Ser. No. 815,905 Int. Cl. B01d 46/02 U.S. Cl. 55--367 10 Claims ABSTRACT F THE DISCLOSURE A vacuum cleaner lter bag which can be manufactured on machinery designed for conventional vacuum cleaner filter bags, and yet having an increased capacity for dirt and dust, by the provision of off-center access means associated therewith.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION (1) Field of the invention This invention relates in general to disposable type filter bags for use with vacuum cleaning devices. More particularly, this invention relates to a filter bag as above which is expansible to an increased capacity over conventional bags of similar structure.

(2) Description of the prior art Paper bag making machinery is usually designed for the manufacture of a paper bag of particular dimensions and shapes. Consequently, where it is desired to make paper bags of increased capacity and special shapes adapted to different shaped vacuum cleaning devices, different machines have to be set up to take care of the different bag sizes. One problem has been the provision of access means through the bag bottom communicating into the interior of the bag. Generally, what has been done has been to provide a centrally located aperture in the bag bottom to which is attached a mounting collar with the other end of the bag being closed. The problem here is that in order to provide the aperture, several layers of the bag bottom have to be cut through making for a relatively complicated bag construction.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION It is, therefore, among one of the principal objects of this invention to provide a highly novel vacuum cleaner filter bag of simple construction which can be manufactured on conventional machinery designed for relatively small volume vacuum cleaner filter bags, and yet which bag during use has an increased capacity for dirt or dust.

In accordance with the present invention, there has now been provided a vacuum cleaner filter bag having offcenter access means associated therewith thereby giving the bag an increased capacity for dirt and dust over prior art filter bags. The bag is formed of a blank sheet of material folded to define a front wall, a rear wall and a pair of opposing sides, said bag being closed at one end 'thereof and bottomed at the other end thereof off-center access means being associated with said bag in said bag bottom giving access to the interior of said bag.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWING The invention will be hereinafter more fully described with reference to the accompanying drawing in which:

FIG. l is a plan view of a blank utilized in the manufacture of a vacuum cleaner lfilter bag pursuant to the invention;

FIGS. 2, 3, 4, and 5 illustrate successive steps in forming the bag bottom;

FIG. 6 is a sectional -view of the bag tube of FIG. 2 taken along line 6--6 in the direction of the arrows located over the reference numerals;

3,616,621 Patented Nov. 2, 1971 ice DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS Referring now to the figures in detail, FIG. l illustrates av blank 10 of paper sheet material substantially rectangular in conformation. As here shown, the blank 10 is provided with fold lines 12 and 14 which extend longitudinally thereof respectively adjacent to the longitudinal marginal edges 16 and 18 thereof. Between said longitudinal edge 16 and the opposing longitudinal edge 18 the blank is provided with six transverse fold lines which are spaced laterally between the shorter end edges 20 and 22 of the rectangular blank, said fold lines being indicated by the reference numerals 24, 26, 28, 30, 32 and 34 respectively.

The blank is provided with a first slit 36 forming walls 36A and 36B, which extends inwardly from longitudinal edge 16 between edge 20 and fold line 24 and which terminates inwardly of fold line 12. A fold line 38 extends from the inner end of slit 36 to the intersection of fold lines 14 and 26. A second slit 40 forming walls 40C and 40D, is provided between fold lines 28 and 30 and extends inwardly from longitudinal edge 16 and terminates inwardly of fold line 12. A fold line 42 extends from the inner end of slit 40 to the intersection of fold lines 14 and 26. A third slit 44 forming walls 44D and 44E, extends inwardly from longitudinal edge 16 between fold lines 28 and 30 which terminates inwardly of fold line 12. A fold line 46 extends from the inner end of slit 44 to the intersection of fold lines 14 and 32. A fourth slit 50 forming walls 50F and 50G, extends inwardly from longitudinal edge 16 between edge 22 and fold line 34 and which terminates inwardly of fold line 12. A fold line 52 extends from the inner end of slit 50 to the intersection of fold lines 14 and 32. It will be noted that the end edge 20 and the fold line 24 define a panel A; fold line 24 and fold line 26 define a panel B; fold line 26 and fold line 28 define a panel C; fold line 28 and fold line 30 define a panel D; fold line 30 and fold line 32 define a panel E; fold line 32 and fold line 34 define a panel F; while fold line 34 and end edge 22 define a panel G.

Panels D and E are each provided with a generally circular cut-out forming apertures 54 and 56, respectively. Aperture 54 is located in panel D at a position defined between slits 40` and 44, and longitudinal edge 16 and fold line 12. More specifically, aperture 54 is located at the corner definable by slit 44 and fold line 12, being closer to slit 44 than to fold line 12. Aperture 56 is located in panel E at a generally central position defined between fold lines 30 and 32 and between longitudinal edge 16 and fold line 12.

FIG. 6 illustrates in cross-section a bag tube 58 which is formed by folding the blank 10 along the various transverse fold lines 24 through 34 thereof. It will be understood that the tube 58 is formed by adhesively securing the end edges 20 and 22 in overlapping relation, defining a front panel 60 for the bag which is formed by blank panels A and G. The bag is also provided with a rear main panel 62 formed by blank panel D directly opposite front panel 60. Panels B and C define a gusset 63 between panels 60 and 62. Similarly, an opposing gusset 64 is defined by panels E and F between panels 60 and 62.

The tube 58 is bottomed by displacing panels B, C, E and F inwardly, i.e., towards the center of the tube, and by displacing panels 60 and 62 in opposite directions, successive bottoming steps appearing in FIGS. 3, 4 and 5. It is to be understood that the steps and operations for bottoming the tube 58 are conventional and well-known in the art, and that the adhesive material 86 is actually applied when the tube is in the condition shown in FIGS. 3 and 4. For this purpose, as is well-known, the gusset 63 is provided with diagonal fold lines 42 and 38 which extend from the longitudinal fold line 12 to longitudinal fold line 14, it being noted that the gusset 64 is provided with diagonal fold lines 46 and 52 which extend similarly, as best shown in FIG. 3. It is to be noted that after this bottoming step apertures 54 and 56 are in vertical alignment with aperture 56 being immediately below aperture 54; each aperture being in its respective position as earlier described, with aperture 54 located on the projecting portion 110 of rear panel 62 and aperture 56 located on the upper half of panels E and F now forming middle bottoming member 112.

With the gussets bent inwardly above the fold line 14, the tube 58 assumes the condition thereof illustrated in FIG. 3. It will be noted that in said condition of the tube, the U-shaped adhesive stripe 86 forms a continuous border stripe over the open bag bottom except in the areas immediately surrounding the apertures 54 and 56.

In the next step, illustrated in FIG. 4, the panel 60 is bent upwardly along the fold line 12. This causes panel 60 to be adhesively partially secured at the bottom end of tube 58 to the underlying adhesive stripes.

In the final step of the bottoming operation, panel 62 is bent downwardly along fold line 12 from the position thereof illustrated in FIG. 4 to the position thereof illustrated in FIG. 5. It will be noted that when the panels are so folded the adhesive stripe 86 adheres to panel 60 and onto itself, and the apertures 54, 56 are now in registry forming off-center access means 124 into the interior of the bag, e.g. circular aperture 126, or, as shown in FIG. 7, the registered access means 124 can be formed of star shaped slits 130 provided in the blank 10 as earlier described for aperture 54, 56. Further, according to a critical feature of the invention the apertures 54 and 56 forming access means 124, are each cut only into a single layer of the bag bottom, i.e. portion 110 and middle bottoming member 112, rather than through several layers of the bag bottom as in the prior art, earlier described.

As a result of the foregoing adhesive securement at the bottomed end 122 of the tube 58, there is now defined a bag 140 having a tubular body 58 and a bottom end 122, the tubular body being open at the other end thereof. In order to seal this said end, it is sealed upon itself at adhesive stripes 128 by folding the end over twice at the positions indicated by dotted lines so as to form a closed end 132 opposite the bottom end 122, as best shown in FIGS. and 8.

In order to form the vacuum cleaner bag 140, the bag 140 is fitted with a rectangular collar 142 on the bottom 122, said collar being adapted to be in registry with offcenter access means 124 by having a circular aperture 150 of about the same size as aperture 124. The collar 142 is of conventional construction, preferably being formed of paperboard or cardboard, and as mentioned is adapted to overlie and be in registry with said aperture 130. A resilient member 133 with aperture 135 in overlying registry with access means 124 is secured additionally to the collar 142 so that an air-tight fit will be attained when the collar is mounted on a vacuum conduit inlet. The said collar 142 is also provided with a handle 144 which provides gripping means that make the bag more easily mountable in the vacuum cleaner. The bag 140 may be of the disposable type.

The vacuum cleaner bag 140 is mounted in conventional flashion in a vacuum cleaner, the collar 142 serving to support the filter bag in conventional manner. The inlet end of a vacuum cleaner conduit suitably adapted is readily insertable into the bag by inserting the conduit through registered apertures 124, 135 and 150. 'I'he fea- 4 ture of the off-center access means 124 provides for a bag, which when mounted on an operating vacuum cleaner, will have an increased capacity for the reception of dirt and dust (FIG. 8).

In view of the foregoing, it Will be apparent that there has been illustrated and described a highly novel expandable vacuum cleaner filter bag having oli-center access means associated, which has the outstanding advantage that it can be formed on conventional bag making machinery for making relatively low capacity bags.

What is claimed is:

1. A vacuum cleaner filter bag comprising a blank sheet of air permeable material defining a front wall, a rear wall and a pair of opposing sides, opposite edges of said blank defining cooperating portions of said front wall, said cooperating portions being secured together in an overlaping relation to define a tube-like member, said tube-like member being closed at one end thereof and bottomed at an opposite end thereof, portions of said front wall, rear wall and opposing sides being secured together to constitute the bottomed end, first access means provided in said rear wall portion, second access means provided in one of said portions of said opposing sides, said rear wall portion being secured to said one portion of said opposing sides in an overlapping relation with said first access means being disposed in registry with said second access means to define off-center access means eX- tending through said bottomed end adjacent to one end portion of said bottomed end, said off-center access means providing access to an interior of said bag, and a mounting collar disposed on said one end portion of said bottomed end for association with said ofi-center access means, said collar being provided with opening means, said off-center access means and said opening means being in registry to provide access to said interior of said bag.

2. A vacuum cleaner filter bag according to claim 1, Iwherein at least one of said first and second access means includes a substantially circular aperture.

3. A vacuum cleaner filter bag according to claim 1, wherein each of said first and second access means includes a substantially circular aperture.

4. A vacuum cleaner lter bag according to claim 1, wherein said off-center access means includes star shaped slits.

5. A vacuum cleaner filter bag comprising a tube of filter sheet material, said tube including a front wall, a rear wall and a pair of opposing sides, said tube being closed at one end thereof and bottomed at an opposite end thereof, portions of said front wall, rear wall and opposing sides being secured together to constitute the bottomed end, first access means provided in said rear wall portion, second access means provided in one of said portions of said opposing sides, said rear wall portion being secured to said one portion of said opposing sides in an overlapping relation with said first access means being disposed in registry with said second access means to define off-center access means extending through said bottomed end adjacent to one end portion of said bottomed end, said off-center access means providing access to an interior of said bag, and a mounting collar disposed on said one end portion of said bottomed end for association with said off-center access means, said collar being provided with opening means, said off-center access means and said opening means being in registry to provide access to said interior of said bag.

6. A vacuum cleaner filter bag according to claim 5, wherein at least one of said first and second access means includes a substantially circular aperture.

7. A vacuum cleaner filter bag according to claim 5, wherein each of said first and second access means includes a substantially circular aperture.

8. A vacuum cleaner filter bag according to claim 5, wherein said oil-center access means includes star shaped slits.

9. A blank foldable to define a vacuum cleaner filter bag comprising a sheet of air permeable material substantially rectangular in conformation, a first longitudinal fold line adjacent to one longitudinal marginal edge of said sheet, a second longitudinal fold line space between said first longitudinal fold line and said one longitudinal marginal edge, a plurality of transverse fold lines spaced between transverse marginal edges of said sheet and intersecting said first and second longitudinal fold lines to define a front wall forming member, a rear wall forming member and a pair of opposing side wall forming members, pairs of slits provided in said front and rear wall forming members transversely extending from said one longitudinal marginal edge, diagonal folded lines extending from said slits to intersection points within said side wall forming members, said intersection points being provided by said first longitudinal fold line and two of said transverse fold lines, said slits and said diagonal fold lines allowing the bag to be bottomed, first access means provided in a portion of said rear wall forming member between said one longitudinal marginal edge and said second longitudinal fold line, second access means provided in a portion of one of said side wall forming members between Isaid one longitudinal marginal edge and said second longitudinal fold line, one of said slits and one of said transverse fold lines being disposed between said first and second access means to permit said first access means to 6 be disposed in registry with said second access means to define off-center access means extending through the bottom of the bag to provide access to an interior of the bag. 10. A blank according to claim 9, wherein at least one of said rst and second access means includes a substantially circular aperture.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,758,668 8/1956 Brace 55-373 2,776,726 1/1957 \Brace 55-373 X 2,945,558 7/1960 Cordell 55-376 3,212,248 10/ 1965 Leader 56-202 3,252,274 5/1966 Benson et al. 55-377 3,328,942 7/1967 Waters 15-327 3,330,100 7/1967 Pesco 229-625 X 3,440,805 4/ 1969 Cordell 229-53 FOREIGN PATENTS 788,578 1/1958 Great Britain 55-367 DENNIS E. TALBERT, JR., Primary Examiner U.S. Cl. X.R

55-376, 378, 381; 93-8 VB, 35 VL; 161-109, 117; 229-52 R, 62.5 

